


In All the Otherworlds

by literati42



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Brimel, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, It is sad you are warned, JT Tarmel needs a hug, M/M, Malcolm Bright Needs a Hug, Malcolm Bright Whump, Multiple Deaths, Multiverse, Romance, Tears will be shed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:53:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25603867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literati42/pseuds/literati42
Summary: When Malcolm dies in battle, JT searches the multiverse for another version of his lost love.Multiple AUs, multiple MCD
Relationships: Malcolm Bright/JT Tarmel
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	In All the Otherworlds

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry (am I though?). I blame the fact that I listened to Folklore the entire time I wrote this.
> 
> This idea was inspired by Midnighter/Apollo, the original "I will travel the multiverse" queer duo, but it is VERY different from that story.
> 
> See the end notes for thoughts on the worlds

**Earth 310**

JT felt like his heart was ripped from his chest as blue eyes met his. “Bright!” He screamed, running, hand outstretched.

Bright hit the ground before JT reached him.

The sound of blaster fire and explosions faded into the recesses of his mind as JT dropped to his knees and skidded to the other man’s side. He drew Bright into is arms. Malcolm’s head lulled against his shoulder. JT pulled Bright’s helmet off and tossed it, dark hair falling in his face. JT saw the blood running down the pale face of the man he loved above anyone in the world. “Hey, hey, I have to get you out of here.”

Bright’s eyes fluttered as he reached a hand up and wound his fingers into the front of JT’s uniform. “Have to run.”

“We will.”

Bright shook his head. JT traced his eyes down to where Bright’s hand pressed against his middle. JT cursed, pulling his love’s hand away. The wound ripped into Bright’s gut made his head spin.

“We can get you help,” he said, the words weak to his own ears.

Bright leaned his face into JT, “I love you.”

“Stop it! No, you’re not dying.”

“JT, I love you,” Bright said. The man lifted his hand and pressed it to JT’s cheek.

Then his hand fell away.

JT felt the blood on his cheek, traces left from Malcolm’s touch. There was an old myth that a soul had physical weight. JT remembered laughing when Edrisa told him that people used to weigh people before and after death to determine the exact weight of a soul.

He knew it was false, yet JT felt something the moment Malcolm left his body.

JT screamed. Some of it words, some of it sounds that rose from deep within his chest.

The battle continued around him. On some level, JT felt it.

“They are going through the portals!” This was Edrisa’s voice. She stood beside him, her battle armor covered in soot from the explosions. He knew the exact moment she saw the body in his arms. “Bright!” Her agony reflected his own, and it sent anger through him. This was his pain, his agony to hold. He could not let anyone else feel it. There was too much for him to feel.

Then as she hit the dirt beside him, shaking the body in his arms, her words sunk in. “The portals.” JT gently laid Bright’s body in her arms.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“The portals,” he replied. JT grabbed the gun beside him. Bright’s, not his own. It was smaller, but it was still warm from his love’s touch. JT cried out and ran toward the enemy, dodging around the retreating forms of soldiers on his side. They headed back toward safety. He ran into danger.

“JT!” he heard Dani scream. He ignored her, and barreled toward the enemy. JT saw one of the soldiers lift a device. A blue light ripped through the fabric of reality. JT body-checked the man, grabbing the device before anyone registered his presence in enemy lines, and JT threw himself into the portal.

**Earth 120**

JT found Bright standing at the edge of a garden, pulling his hat low over his face to stave off the heat of the sun. He leaned on the hoe, looking at the neat rows.

“They look good,” JT said, walking up to the fence that separated him from the man. He watched Bright take in his strange clothes, but saw no distrust fill the man’s eyes.

“They’re coming along,” Bright replied, “In a few weeks, there might be something to harvest.”

“Seems like a good life,” JT said.

This Bright, a Malcolm Bright with an open face, whose pale skin was touched with sun. A Malcolm Bright who had a healthy amount of weight. A Malcolm so different from his own, smiled, and the smile was unburdened

“Farming?” he asked, “Yes, I suppose it is.”

“Who is here, love?”

It was Dani’s voice, and following it was a version of the woman herself. Like Bright, she seemed full of warmth. She came over, wrapping her arm around Bright’s shoulder. “Hello,” she said to JT. JT felt a pang of hurt. He knew it was unfair. This was not his Bright. This was someone so unlike the man he loved in every way. “Are you hungry, stranger?” she asked.

“Just passing by.” JT tried to copy the ease of their smiles, but this version of Malcolm and Dani had not known the pain he knew. He prayed they never would. Before either could say another word, he walked out of their view. As the blue portal closed around him, he thought he heard Bright’s voice call after him.

**Earth 818**

Here there were dragons. It was the first thought that crossed JT’s mind as he fell out of the portal, bending his legs to soften his landing. The sky was speckled with a rainbow of dragons, darting in and out of the clouds. The people around him were acting like this was normal, so he did too. He knew Bright had to be close, the transporter had not failed him last time. JT had to believe it would not fail him now. At least in this world, he was not getting as many dirty looks for his uniform.

JT stopped dead in his tracks. A dragon with cerulean blue scales and a slender build glided down to the path in front of him. It began to turn around. With its movements, the air began to shimmer. Slowly, the shape changed. JT’s eyes widened as Bright stood before him, human in form now, though some of his exposed skin—which was most of him—still had blue scales. His eyes were slits like a reptile. “JT?” he said, his voice tinted with a hiss. “No.” This Bright sniffed the air, coming closer. He leaned directly into JT’s airspace, his nose just inches from JT’s throat. JT felt his heart hammer and fought the urge to grab this man and pull him close.

He was so different, but in ways that counted, he was Malcolm Bright.

“You are not my JT,” Bright said, his voice was absent of any hostility.

“You don’t seem surprised.”

“I’ve seen one of your like before,” the dragon said, eyeing him, “You lost your Malcolm?”

“Yes,” JT said.

“So, you are searching for a new one.”

JT flinched, “When you say it like that...”

Bright touched his arm, “It is like that,” he said, “If you are to continue, it will help you to know what you journey for. A replacement?”

“No, it’s…” JT searched for words, but could he deny it?

Bright stepped closer and cupped his face, looking up into his eyes. “Kiss me.”

“What?”

“Kiss me,” Bright said, “It is alright, my JT will not mind. He and I are polyamorous.”

JT stared into the eyes of this creature—a dragon in the shape of Bright. Then JT stepped forward and kissed him. Kissed him deep and hard with all the pain and intensity of everything he lost.

He released Bright, tears choking his throat.

“You felt nothing,” this Bright said.

“I…you don’t taste like him.”

“I am not him,” the dragon said, still in JT’s arms.

“So,” JT said, not willing to let it go. “I stand no chance.”

“I did not say that.” Bright cupped his cheek, “If you are to find what you are looking for, you must look for more than just any Bright in the multiverse. Many will not be a match for you.”

JT released him, stepping away, “It’s a fool’s errand.”

“No,” he said, “But a long road. Are you certain you want to commit yourself to searching through countless universes to find someone who may not exist at all? Knowing even if you find a Malcolm like the one you lost, he will never be the same person? You are setting yourself up for heartbreak.”  
JT looked at him, “Would you? Would you look for me? For your version of me?”

The dragon’s eyes were soft and full of pain. “I would never stop searching, but that is one thing most Malcolm’s have in common. We are drawn to heartbreak.”

“Maybe I am, too,” he replied.

JT jumped through the blue portal without looking back.

_-_-_

**Earth 4**

He found Bright sitting by the river. She was lovely, her dark hair long enough to touch her hips. Mal wore a long dress and did not seem bothered that it was getting muddied by the water. There was a cottage in the background.

JT started to take a step forward out of the trees, but before he could, a woman opened the cottage door and stepped out. It was JT, or whatever name this version of them used. Her hair was in braids, and she too wore a long dress. She walked over to Bright and sat beside her, drawing Bright into her arms.

JT watched this version kiss this version of Bright, and his heart broke again.

**Earth 67**

JT watched himself through the window of a little store that sold coffee and had the alarming name of Ripper Street Café, lean under a shelf of fake crows to kiss this Malcolm Bright, a barista with an apron that read “Our Coffee Slays.”

**Earth 1000**

He found Bright Arroyo standing in the quad outside of a place called the Academy. JT’s scanner went off as he hid, observing. The sensor told him this Bright was a synthetic being. A robot—no, an AI. Bright was gone before JT could speak to him. Instinct stopped JT from trying to follow this one.

**Earth 1776**

JT found himself, his other self, running through the ruins of a broken-down city being chased by mutant mountain lions alongside a version of Malcolm Bright. From his perch watching through binoculars, he could see tall wooden ships on the water in the distance. He thought he detected a pirate flag. JT turned his attention back to the scene. He watched himself save Malcolm Bright, and JT left again before he saw how it ended for them.

**Earth 919**

JT walked down the sand at the side of a lake. He saw Bright sitting on a dock, carefully dangling a toddler so that her feet kicked in the water. This world’s Edrisa walked out on the dock, and sat beside him, kissing his cheek and resting her face against his shoulder.

**Earth 5999**

There was the Earth where everyone sang their feelings. JT stayed there for exactly five minutes before he got a headache and left.

**Earth 5289**

JT walked down a long hall toward a truly elaborate cell. He used an intricate story to get himself into Claremont, but he could not convince them to give him an audience alone with the inmate. He glanced at the tall Black man named Mr. David, who nodded at him and let him in. The large, red room was decorated like a study rather than a cage. Precisely in the center of the room stood the inmate, tethered to the wall.

Malcolm Whitly turned to look at him, the white uniform of the prison loose on his thin frame.

This version of Malcolm frowned, “Didn’t I kill you already?”

“In more ways than one,” JT replied. He used the portal to leave while Mr. David was not looking. After all, who would believe notoriously insane serial killer Malcolm Whitly.

**Earth 89**

JT kicked up dust as he walked, the heat beating down on him. The dry air felt aggressive. He saw Bright’s face before he saw the man. JT grabbed a piece of dirty old paper nailed to a wooden post. “Wanted Dead or Alive: Malcolm Whitly,” it read, a reward with a lot of zeros at the end listed on the bottom.

JT folded the paper and put it in his pocket.

He heard a click. “Turn around slowly,” said the voice JT loved most in the multiverse. He turned around. Malcolm Whitly stood in front of him in dirty boots and a hat, a bandana around his neck. The gun was ancient by the standards of JT’s world. “You looking for me?”

“Always,” JT said. He portalled away before the gunshot could reach him. JT wondered if he would become a ghost story or maybe the rumor of aliens? An alien among cowboys, he thought, amused.

**Earth 1**

JT, exhausted, came through the portal once more. He found himself on a street in New York City. He leaned his hand against the building, trying to orient himself to yet another world. JT saw a building that read, “Precinct.” He frowned, watching a version of Gil and Dani walk into the building holding cups of coffee.

“JT?”

He tensed and turned around. Malcolm Bright stood there. This one looked so much like the one he lost, but instead of a uniform, he wore a suit and scarf. He looked up at him, blinking. “JT?” This version of Bright held out a colorful little circle on a stick. JT reached over and took it.

“Um?”

“You seemed to like the last flavor, so I brought the same one again,” Bright said, “I thought you were home sick today.”

“I…am.”

Bright blinked at him and stepped closer, “You do look unwell.”

“I was…heading back home,” JT offered.

“Do you need me to help? I can’t drive you obviously,” Bright said, talking with his hands, which held another one of the little circle sticks, “But I can get Gil to…”

“I just needed air.”

Bright frowned, those blue eyes narrowing in a way that was so familiar. “What are you wearing?”

“Long story?”

Bright accepted this with a shrug, “JT, I wanted to say. I know we’ve gotten off to a bad start, the whole ‘you aren’t going to like each other thing’ and all that…”

“Who said we aren’t going to like each other?” JT asked him. Bright frowned.

“Gil? When he introduced us. JT, are you sure you don’t need me to…”

“You were saying something.”

“Right,” Bright said, his frown deepening, “Just, I think if you give me a chance, you’ll find I can be…” Bright stopped, glancing off. It was so adorable somehow, the way this Bright acted so similar to his own. His Bright never knew how to describe himself either. “Well, I think I can win you over.”

JT smiled, and the expression seemed to take Bright by surprise. “You know,” JT said, “I am feeling very sick, so I may not remember this tomorrow, but I think I will like you quite a lot.”

It was worth every moment of travel to be the reason that this Bright looked startled and delighted. JT reached over and patted Bright’s shoulder. Then he turned and walked away.

JT was quite a distance away before he felt safe enough to create a portal unseen. Just before he opened it, JT realized the little circle stick combo was some type of candy. He stuck it in his mouth and portalled away.

JT could not take this Bright away from this JT, even if they had not figured out what they would be to each other yet.

**Earth 5**

JT appeared on the deck of a starship, surrounded by crew members with blasters aimed at him. Edrisa frowned first. “JT? You didn’t use your signal…”

“Did you bring the cure?” This Dani asked, lowering her weapon.

“This is not our JT,” it was Gil’s voice. He was the only one who did not lower his blaster.

“Captain?” Dani asked as the other members of the crew raised their weapons again.

“Who are you? Where or when are you from?” Gil went on.

JT held up his hands, “You’re right,” he said, “I’m not your JT, but I am a JT. I am from another version of the universe.”

“Why are you here?” Gil asked.

“To speak with your Malcolm Bright if…if possible,” JT said.

“He speaks the truth,” said this version of Ainsley. She stood in the doorway, her hand outstretched toward him. “I sense no deceit in him. He is who he says he is.”

The blasters lowered. “I will take you to Malcolm,” Gil said. He started walking, and JT followed, leaving behind the rest of the crew.

“You don’t seem all that bothered by my presence.”  
“We’ve seen stranger things,” Gil said, “And Ainsley’s perception rarely fails us.” Gil looked at him, “Do you know of our Malcolm?”

“No,” JT replied, “I knew my own Malcolm, and I’ve seen many others.”

“Then, you aren’t here to help?”

“With what?”

Gil’s expression seemed to age him, the pain clear in his eyes. “He’s dying. We’ve looked for every cure in the known universe, but none of our usual methods help. JT left to search for a new solution, something unknown. A gambit.”

“What does he have?”

“We don’t know,” Gil said, and JT read in his expression that the not knowing was killing him. The older man stopped at a door and turned. “He doesn’t have long. Don’t tax him, please, but…he would want to see you.”

“I mean him no harm.”

With pain in his voice, Gil replied, “I’m not sure what more pain anyone could do him.” With that, Gil waved his hand, and the door slid open with a whish.

JT walked into a sleek cabin. It had the traces of a life spent there, but JT could do little more than register this before his gaze was arrested by the figure lying in the bed. Malcolm Bright lay there, a blanket pulled up over him. He was paler than JT had ever seen him, his face gaunt with illness. Bright’s eyes fluttered open, and JT could read the pain in them. This version of the man he loved was in agony. But, even through the haze of pain, JT watched his eyes light up. “You’re not my JT,” Bright said.

“How can you tell?” JT asked, approaching slowly.

“Your eyes,” Bright said, “There’s sorrow in them that’s new, “You’re a Traveler.”

“Yes, I guess I am,” JT said, “And this is not what I’m looking for. I’m sorry.”

“Wait,” Bright said, lifting his hand weakly toward JT.

There was never a version of Bright that JT could say no to.

He walked back over. “Will you sit?” Bright asked, “Please? My JT isn’t back yet.”

So, JT walked over and took the seat beside the bed.

“This JT is your JT?” he asked and knew Bright understood him when the other man smiled.

“Yes.”

“Tell me?” JT asked, knowing the answer would likely split his heart even further apart.

Bright got a distant look, “We’ve been each other’s since I was fifteen.” It was a warm look, a lovely warmth that made JT’s heartache even harder than he could have imagined. “I met him on the beach. We were there with our families, but we bailed on them to adventure around. We met in the morning, and by the time the sun was setting, you—he—leaned over and kissed me while the waves lapped against our ankles. I had to leave with my family, but I tried to run away.” He laughed, and JT could not help but smile. He imagined a teenage Bright throwing a fit because he was “in love” with a boy he met hours before. Then Bright’s laugh turned into a painful cough and stole the smile from JT’s face.

On instinct, JT took Bright’s hand, and the other man gripped his hand back.

“Sorry,” Bright gasped out. Bright touched his lips with his free hand, his pale fingers coming back stained with blood. “I…”

“You don’t have to talk.”

“I want to,” he said, “I want to remember.” Bright closed his eyes for a moment, then slowly turned to look out the window at the stars going by them.

“What happened next?”

“My family won, of course. They forced me to leave. You and I communicated for years, long-distance as you lived planet side, and my family traveled the stars. It was torture for a teenager, but it was lovely too.” He looked at him, “I forced my mother and Gil to bring me back to you whenever we came through the system.”

“And how many sunsets did we kiss under?”

“Oh hundreds,” Bright replied, “We got married on that beach.”

“We’re married?” JT asked, then he realized the hand he held had a white gold band on it. He gently touched it.

“Five years,” Bright said, “We married while we were both still in the Academy. Gil requested that we get stationed on his ship.”

“Was it beautiful?” JT asked, he did not mean to make it past tense.

“It was.” Bright said, answering him in kind as his eyes found JT’s. They both knew the end of the story was coming, in more ways than one. “This is the longest you and I—him and I—have been apart since we joined the Academy together.”

“When he left to find a cure?”

Bright did not answer the question, but then it did not need answering. His eyes darkened, “We were going to adopt. I wasn’t sure I would be a good father, but you insisted that I would. I never doubted you would.”

JT felt tears choking his throat, “He might find a cure,” he said, but the words felt weak.

“JT,” Bright said, “He’s not going to make it back.”

“You can’t know that.”

Bright closed his eyes for a second, then opened them again slowly. “Why are you traveling?”

“My Bright died,” JT said, and the words came out hoarse.

Bright did not say he was sorry, and JT knew then that this man understood him as his own love had. Somethings were too big to contain in soft words, no matter how sincere. “You’re looking for another?”

“I know. Another version of you already told me it was foolish.”

“Yes, he was probably right,” Bright said, “But who isn’t foolish in love.”

“I’ve been to so many worlds,” JT said, the exhaustion coming back to the forefront of his thoughts. “Sometimes we’re not together, but a lot of times we are. In all of them, our lives intersect somehow.”

Bright smiled, “We’re connected.”

“Yes, but I can’t find a version of you that isn’t connected to the world you’re in in ways I could never untangle or in ways I would never want to,” JT said, “Every time I find a version of you close enough to the one I love, you are too important to the people I find you with. Every time.” JT realized how hard he was gripping Bright’s hand and forced himself to loosen his grip. “What’s the point if all I am doing is seeing versions of you that have no place for me?”

Bright’s eyes were shining with tears. “Hope is enough reason.”

“How can that be true?”

“What else is there?” Bright asked, “That’s why you left in this version.”

“You said you don’t believe it will work.”

This Bright’s smile faded, “No, but you needed to believe it would.” He cringed then, pain deepening in his eyes. “JT…JT…”

“What do you need? Who can I get?” JT asked, standing.

“There’s nothing…just don’t leave,” Bright’s grip on his hand tightened. “Would you…I know I’m not your Bright, but…”

“Whatever you need,” JT replied.

“Would you hold me?”

JT moved slowly, sitting on the edge of the bed that a different version of him must have slept in so many times. He moved carefully, pulling Bright into his arms. This was not his love, and he was not this Bright’s husband, but for the moment, he realized they both needed this. He cradled Bright in his arms and felt this man curl up into him. He laid down, holding him. Pain shook through Bright’s body in waves. JT heard the man stifle a whimper, and he tightened his hold.

He laid his hand on Bright’s chest and felt his heartbeat.

That was how he felt it start to slow.

“Bright…” JT said. “Bright? Bright!” He shouted, sitting up. He shook the body, gently at first and then with more desperation. “Bright!” His fingers went to Bright’s neck. Nothing. Nothing. “Bright, dammit! Bright!”

The door whished open, and another version of JT was there. He ran into the room. “I have it! I have it!”

“Give it to him now,” JT shouted at this universe’s version of himself. This JT pulled the cure out, injecting it into Bright’s neck.

Both JT’s were motionless. JT held this other Malcolm in his lap while this version of JT stood, both of them watching the face looking for anything. Any micro-sign of change.

“Bright?” the other JT asked. “Love? Bright?”

JT let Bright go, let his husband take him, and stood. JT took two steps away from the bed and let this JT take his place. He watched the other JT hold this other Bright in his arms. He watched him scream, he watched him cry. He watched as the hope faded into denial and grief.

It was surreal, watching another version of himself lose his whole heart.

JT, knowing it was cowardly, portalled away. He could not be there for this a second time. He tried to ignore the fact that his Bright was already gone, that he was there at the tragic end of another love story.

JT went back to his own universe. He could not travel to another world. JT could not meet another Bright who did not need him. He could not watch another Malcolm Bright die.

Like the JT he met in that space ship, he felt his hope melt away. With it, the floodgates opened, and sorrow flowed out of him in sobs. JT stood in the field where a battle stole the one person who mattered most from him hours—days—ages before, and he sobbed.

He wailed in agony, not caring if it brought the enemy to him. He would die or he would not. JT could not bring himself to care.

A familiar sound caught his attention. JT looked up to see the air splitting apart, and a blue portal form, but he had not created it.

Out of the portal came a Malcolm Bright, one in a uniform that looked almost exactly like the one his own Malcolm wore but in blue, not green. His face was covered in soot from battle, and his eyes were full of pain and tears. “JT?”

JT turned to him, “I…don’t understand.”

“I’ve traveled to hundreds of worlds,” Bright said, “I’m looking for…for you. For a version of you.” Bright’s words were full of tears, “I lost you…my version of you in a battle today.” He cursed and ran a hand through his hair, knocking pieces of it loose into his dirty face. “You would think I would be better at this conversation by now…you probably think that’s crazy, or you already have your own Bright. You always have your own…”

“You’re looking for a version of me that needs a version of you?” JT said, his words slow.

“I know, I know. Believe me. I met a version of myself, who told me I was crazy.”

“A dragon?”

“What?” this Bright’s eyes fluttered up to him.

“You met a dragon version of you that told you, you were crazy?” JT said.

“How did you know?” Bright asked.

“I met him while I was traveling, looking for you.”

“What?” Bright asked.

“I went through a hundred worlds looking for you,” JT said, “I lost you in a battle today.”

“When you say you lost me…”

“I loved you, you were my…my person, and I loved and lost you.”

“And you went through the multiverse to find me?” Bright asked.

“The same way you did,” JT said, he took a step toward Bright. This Malcolm grabbed the lapel of his uniform and kissed him, hard and sudden, full of desperation. Bright pulled back.

“Please tell me you’re serious.”

JT pulled him close and kissed him back with the same intensity. He did not let him go when he pulled back to say, “I’m serious.” He felt some small part of his heart, mending, “I found you.”

“I found you,” Bright replied, he burrowed into JT’s arms like he wanted to fuse with his skin and JT held him back just as fiercely.

Later they would talk about what to do. “We could live on my world,” Bright said.

“Or mine,” JT replied.

“Or,” Bright said from his spot in the crook of JT’s arms on a bed they found in an abandoned house. He rolled over so he was on top of JT. “Or we keep traveling.”

“A version of you told me about a beach we kissed on in sunset.”

“A version of you told me about a ship we sailed together.”

“A version of you and I live in a cottage by a stream.”

“I want to see all of those places with you,” Bright said, leaning down to kiss his lips.

“I want to see a thousand new places,” JT said, his arm snaking around Bright. He rolled, pushing Bright into the mattress and kissing him. “I love you.”

“I love you.”

They repeated it a million times between kisses and stolen breaths.

**Author's Note:**

> Earth 4: Cottagecore Brimel? Yes it is!
> 
> Earth 67: This is the AU from my Ripper Street Cafe stories!
> 
> Earth 1000: Is the AU from my story Singularity
> 
> Earth 1776: Is a sneak peak of the AU I'm working on for the Big Bang challenge
> 
> Earth 5289: Yes, that Earth is named after Martin's uniform (Thanks Tess!)
> 
> Speaking of Tess, Earth 89 and Earth 5 are by request for Tess!
> 
> Earth 1: Is the show Universe


End file.
